TELEGRAM TO A. A. JOFFE

Written:Written on October 7, 1918Published:First published in 1957 inDokumenty vneshnei politiki SSSR, Vol. I.

      Printed from the text of the telegraph tape.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1975,

      Moscow,Volume 44,

      pages150c-151a.Translated:Clemens DuttTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive.You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work, as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

ComradeJoffeBerlin

Wedo not agree to sign the Turkish protocol until the
hand-over of Baku to our authorities is accepted, forwithout this clause there is every ground for suspecting secret
agreements with the Entente for handing Baku over to
them. We shall publish just
that.[1]

Sverdlov,Lenin

[1]Thistelegram was sent in connection with the proposal of Rifaat
Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador in Germany, for the signing of a
protocol regulating the military situation in the Caucasus. The
draft protocol Rifaat Pasha put forward provided for the
withdrawal of the Turkish troops from the Caucasus to the borders laid
down by the Brest, Treaty, but it lacked a clause directly
transferring to the Soviet authorities the territories evacuated by the
Turks.

Thefears expressed in this telegram were justified. On October 
30, 1918, the Turkish Government signed the Mudross armistice
with the Entente countries, which contained a special clause about
Turkey agreeing to the occupation of Baku by the Entente powers.
In November 1918, in accordance with this agreement, the Turks
withdrew their troops from Baku and the city was occupied by
the British.